The Last Uzumaki
by singing ferret
Summary: Part of the Puzzle Universe.  OC Gail Uzumaki comes looking for any survivors of the Uzumaki clan.  Rated T for subject matter.  Disclaimer:  I do not own Naruto characters, Marvel comic characters, nor THundercat, Dr Who or ST:TNG plots/ideas.
1. Chapter 1

The Last Uzumaki.

Uzumaki Gale glared at Konoha's open gates. The Village Hidden in the Leaves looked beautiful and inviting as seen through that opening. It was a deadly lie. "Stay here," she ordered without glancing back at her hidden charges. "Keep the children close."

"My Lady, you don't really think any of the clans have hidden here?"

"No, T'kah, I don't." Gale relaxed her shoulders enough to allow her to make eye contact with her oldest surviving friend. T'kah was humanoid, but not human; A fact which had targeted her clan as prey. Ironic, as T'kah was a huntress, a great blue-black panther that walked on two legs.

Gale returned her focus to the village. "But this is the last shinobi village. If I do not call, I will always wonder."

"You may not like what answers." T'Kah didn't growl, not quite, but the ruff at her neck bristled like an angry cat.

"That is why you are staying here, with the children. You are our only warrior."

"And you are our only healer. Be careful."

"As a naked Prancer in a nest of cobras."

Gale lowered her eyes and stepped fully onto the road leading up to the village gates. Years of hard experience had taught her how to walk the tightrope between possible threat and easy victim. Too confident, and shinobi felt the need to neutralize a possible threat. Too timid, and the predators came hunting. She covertly studied the gatekeepers and chose her strategy.

Gale trudged toward the nearer gatekeeper. She felt a testing chakra pulse. It would tell the keepers that she was armed, but only with the scapels, bindings and herbs common to civilian medics. She continued forward, stopping only when a pair of shinobi shoe-thingies came into her down cast field of vision.

"What is your business in Konoha?" The gatekeeper's voice was professional.

Gail lifted her head, blinking like an exhausted civilian only just realizing there was someone else there. The gatekeeper had an ugly burn-like scar on the side of his face, but his eyes were kind. Gail allowed a tired smile. "Resupply."

"We sensed a heavy chakra presence just before you arrived. Did you see anyone on the road?"

Gail turned toward the other gatekeeper then hastily staggered back, bowing deeply. This one's eyes were dark and suspicious. She would play to that. "No one, Shinobi-san. Only my body guard and her children."

"Is your body guard konoichi," the dark one more demanded than asked.

"She is nursing and moody. There were no shinobi or konoichi in our town. There were a few with possible bloodlines, but anyone who showed violent tendencies was exiled. The use of most bloodlines was not permitted. "

"You said there were no shinobi," the gentler one asked.

Gail allowed herself to unbend, though she did not make eye contact with either gatekeeper. "There was one trait shared among all the townspeople. If anyone was injured, or lost, or just a kid being a kid, blood would call and blood would answer. " She shifted her gaze from the ground to a grey cloud overhead. "The call was always a blessing. That day it proved deadly. By the time we understood what was happening, we had already gathered to assist the injured. The invaders slaughtered everyone: Men, women, infants and elderlies. Ironically, most of the survivors were the outcasts. They became shinobi for other villages in order to avenge their families. "

"Are you an 'avenger'?"

The cloud drifted overhead, casting its shadow. Gail dripped her chin and wrapped her arms across her chest. "I am acting medic for the children and their teacher. I am not really a healer, but I'm the closest we've got. " She lifted her gaze to the kinder keeper. "Many of the children are sick, some are injured and all of them are tired. I ask only that we be allowed to camp outside your gates and that I be allowed to buy necessary blankets and medicines."

The gentler one looked past her to the empty road. "Why not bring the children in with you? I am sure we can provide better than the woods."

"Maybe later. When the sight of shinobi vests and head protectors doesn't set them screaming." Gail also turned to look down the road. "They still have nightmares."

"Your attackers were shinobi?"

"Shinobi kill for money. My homeland was beautiful. Someone wanted the land and was willing to pay to have us killed so they could have the land. My husband and I were on our honeymoon. It is the only reason we were not slaughtered with the others. We responded to the call too late to be of any assistance." Odd, Gail thought, the expression on the kinder one's face. He almost seemed offended.

The cloud passed on, and as the sunlight hit her Gail allowed a shiver to run down her back causing her to stagger. She bit down on her lower lip just hard enough to draw blood then, once certain both gatekeepers had seen the shiver or the blood, she pivoted back from the gate. "I can't do this. I…it isn't only the children having nightmares." She drew in a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and stood proud as any civilian facing certain execution. "I will call, just in case any of the survivors found their way here, then I will be out of your hair, Shinobi-san."

Gail released the breath she'd been holding and sent out the call. There was no answering echo. Her entire posture slouched. "Permission requested to search your woods for medicinal herbs."

Gail felt the gatekeepers shift, alert to something running through the brush. Kunai flew.

"I'm here Mommy. Mommy! Why are you bleeding?"

Gail knelt in the roadway, her arms wrapped protectively around her almost 4 year old daughter. Kunai which would have hit an adult in the kidneys, and the child in the head, embedded in Gail's right shoulder and slashed open her scalp. Gail's cloak of civilian medic had been tossed aside with the gatekeepers kunai: A civilian could not have moved fast enough to have intercepted the blades before they killed her child: But Gail didn't care as long as her daughter was safe. "Mommy had an accident. Why are you here, Dart? I told you to stay with the other children."

"Hey! Hey! Who are you?" demanded a young voice.

Gail pivoted, attempting to keep her body between her daughter and Konoha's gates. Too late, as her daughter darted past her and straight up to a blond haired child of around 5 years of age.

"I'm Uzumaki Dart, and that's my mommy. Who are you?"

A dark haired teen sprinted to the gate then bent over, hands-on-knees as he attempted to catch his breath.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," proclaimed the blond ball of energy. "Hey! How come you're name is Uzumaki?"

"My name is Uzumaki because Mommy's name is Uzumaki."

"Oh." The blond's energy simmered low. "Maybe my momma's name was Uzumaki." He frowned then stabbed a finger at Gail. "Hey, Lady, Are you my mom?"

Dart giggled. "Silly. She's not your mommy. She's my mommy."

Gail cupped her hand around the back of Dart's head. "Baby Girl, play nice."

Dart dropped her chin to her chest. "Yes, Mommy."

"Where are your parents, Naruto-kun?" Gail noticed the two gatekeepers seemed very nervous and felt one of them send out his own chakra call for assistance.

The blond boy scuffed his shoe into the soil packed on the road. "They're dead."

"Oh." Dart quickly bounced forward, giving Naruto a hug. "Then you're an orphan. Mommy collects orphans. Do you want to be one of Mommy's orphans? She'll cook for you and play with you. But she also makes you take your medicine. Yuck."

Gail allowed the children to natter and shifted her attention to the teen. "You're an Iruka," she acknowledged.

The teen ran a nervous finger along the scar crossing his nose and flushed slightly. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I guessed. It is tradition to name the oldest son with your birthmark," her finger mimed tracing a scar across her own nose, "Iruka". Gail formed a small ball of lightning and tossed it to the teen. He caught it then stared at it in wonder before it fizzled out. "Your bloodline is thin. Have your parents taught you any of the clan techniques?"

"My parents are dead. There are no other Uminos in the village. " Suddenly the teen's eyes grew very wide. "I have a bloodline?"

"The bloodline isn't Umino. It's…."

"Pretty!"

"Dart! NO!"

Gail knelt on the sticky road, sticky with the blood of her daughter. There really wasn't anything left to bury. She handed the biggest piece, a hand, to the child-monster that had killed her. She spoke to him, but she could not remember what she might have said. She supposed she should feel grateful for the shock that cushioned her when the flood of terror, anger then total silence, told her that the children and their guardian hiding in the woods had been found and brutally murdered.

Slowly, she stood. She noticed the blond standing at her side, staring at the blood. "You are now the last Uzumaki," she said softly, cupping the back of the boy's head with the same affection she showed, used to show, her daughter. Touching him, she felt his chakra; His, and something else. The urge to swear struck life back into Gail. Konoha was using the boy as vessel for one of the tailed beasts!

She had come in peace, searching for any survivors from her husband's Uzumaki clan. She had long given up on finding anyone from her own Shadow-stalkers clan, or ever having the power to avenge her hometown's destruction.

Then she laughed. She was still laughing as she found the Uzumaki chakra pathways, bonded them as she has once bonded with her life-mate, and yanked them free from the seal that held the beast. She continued to laugh as the chakra of the nine-tails, now freed from the last Uzumaki, destroyed Konoha, the traitor village; the ally that never showed; the village of the Nara clan that had entered a peaceful civilian town without walls and slaughtered every man, woman, infant and elderly. She laughed….


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: 1) I do not own any Naruto characters. 2) this was supposed to be chapter 2, but I could not figure out how to get the chapter to attach to the previous story.

The Last Uzumaki: Chapter Two: A Very Troublesome Discovery.

Nara Shikamaru trudged begrudgingly behind his parents. It was his birthday and his mom had promised a special treat after chores were done. He would have been satisfied with just skipping the chores. Instead, here he was, packing a cut down carton with multi-colored small plants through the village. True, the plants were not as heavy as the sack of antlers his father had over his shoulders, or the box of medicines his mother was carrying, but it was still troublesome. His mother had stated it would be much more troublesome trying to save Shinobi lives without the flowers being readily available at the hospital.

"What if the poison victim was your father? He could die before a Medic could make the round trip from the hospital to our green house and back."

Shikamaru had acknowledged he didn't want anyone to die when the medicinal flowers were available. But why did he have to carry the flowers, and why today? His father promised the birthday surprise would be worth the work.

Shikamaru didn't want any more surprises. The last one was troublesome enough. All week his father and uncles and assorted clan members had been drilling the clan shadow techniques into his head, trying to push them past memorized movements all the way to instinctual responses. It was hard, and tiresome, and all he wanted to do was take a nap.

There was some kind of fuss at the gate. Shikamaru saw his father shift the antlers on his shoulder, but the Uchiha waved him off. Whatever it was, the gatekeepers were handling it. It was of no concern to the Nara family and they continued on toward the hospital.

"Pretty!"

Shikamaru saw something darting towards him and instinctively dropped the flowers, whipping through hand signs and grabbing the nearest shadow to defend himself. The shadow felt strange, thick and heavy. Something thumped against his chest and warm, wet stickiness splattered his face and arms.

"Dart! NO!"

Shikamaru was aware of his parents dropping their supplies, the gatekeepers leaving their post, and of a green-eyed woman running toward him. He stared at the blood on his arm and the small pool on the ground. "What was that?"

"That was a Wraith! How did a Wraith get past the gates?" Shikamaru's mother demanded of the guards.

The Uchiha glared at the woman, now kneeling beside the pool of blood. "She said the child was her daughter. She neglected to mention the 'Uzumaki' child was adopted."

Uzumaki? Shikamaru looked over to the usually hyperactive blond kid. Had someone adopted him? What did that have to do with all this blood? The blond was just staring at the pool of blood like maybe he was in shock or something.

"Be careful, Shikamaru." Warned his father. "You have injured it. It will be angry and twice as deadly now. "

"Injured it?" The woman mocked, picking up something from the pool of blood. "He murdered her."

"It was self-defense," said Shikamaru's mother.

"There isn't enough blood there for a kill," said his father.

The woman looked up with eyes that seemed deader than a harvested buck. "A three year old doesn't have a lot of blood." Her voice also had a vacant quality. "Murder seems an extreme punishment for only wanting to see the pretty flowers."

The woman closed her eyes and, for a moment, all of the adults seemed distracted by something he couldn't see just outside the gates. Then the woman spoke again, even more empty than before. "Murder seems an extreme punishment for just wanting to be left in peace."

Shikamaru felt a shiver race up his spine. He couldn't answer. The shivering was spreading from his spine down all his limbs. His throat felt hot and his eyes were watering. Had he been poisoned? What was wrong with him?

"Was this your first kill, young Nara?"

The woman's eyes had opened: Their green fire seared him with her stare. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded through his shivering. The woman extended her fist. "Here, a trophy from your first kill." He saw his father's shadow stretch to intercept the woman's hand. The shadow was burned back by a bright flash. Then her hand was holding his, placing something small in his palm and curling his fingers over it. When she released her hold he opened his hand. Cupped within his palm was a tiny baby's hand. Only a baby's hand. Shikamaru dropped it and was violently ill.

He felt the woman's shadow cover him as she stood. He'd lost track of his parents. "You are now the last Uzumaki," he heard her say softly to the blond child. There was so much sorrow in her voice. He wanted to say something, do something, but all he could do was puke.

Then, she laughed. It was a horrible sound, a hundred times worse than the sorrow before. He caught a flash of red, just before the thickest shadow he'd ever experienced wrapped him in suffocating darkness, trapping him inside with that laugh.

It took him some time to recognize the laughter had stopped. There was a new sound now, the sound of wood burning. The thick shadow was replaced by thick smoke and the stench of burning flesh. To the sticky feel of blood and sweat was quickly adding the irritating burn of ash.

Shikamaru could not at first find the woman. When he did find her, his trembling abruptly stopped. At the side of the ruined gate, too far away for his talent to reach, stood the shadow of a woman. The shadow stared at him with eyes of green fire. He wanted to stamp out that fire. To strangle it, kill it, destroy it as it had destroyed his village.

"Now we are even, young Nara." Her voice was little more than a sigh. Then the shadow turned sideways to him, vanishing from his sight.


	3. Chapter 3

The Last Uzumaki- A piece of the puzzle.

This contains the plot device only. I do not own any of the characters alluded to and this can be skipped without detracting from the previous two chapters.

"This is so wrong, on so many levels," Anzara complained. Then a swing from the expanding fox's tail batted her out of the tree she'd been perched in. She'd not had enough time to reinforce her wings with chakra: one was definitely broken. She wrapped the others close around her body and rode out the upward arc. Right up until her head wacked into the dome, which sealed this pocket universe. She saw a flash of brilliant white light.

Then all was calm. The storm from the fox demon's fire was gone. The sky was clear. "Get your head together, woman," she ordered herself. "You're falling." Carefully she unfolded her wings. Yep, the one was definitely broken. She folded its partner over it to shield it and fully extended the remaining pair. They were not enough for soaring, but sufficient to change her plummet into a clumsy glide. Fortunately, there was no significant turbulence now. Other than some kid trying to use her for target practice, her return to the Hidden Leaf Village was uneventful.

The usual four heads looked over the intact village. From her usual perch she could see the usual faces among its citizens. So, she had changed pocket universes, but was still stuck in the shinobi, call it the "Naruto" multiverse. And this time there didn't appear to be any cross-overs from other multiverses. Baki had said such cross-overs only occurred in fan fiction, or when a Dream Weaver was exceptionally sloppy.

That last universe had to have been the sloppiest cross-over in existence. The panther-woman could have been a resident of Thundara, but her name sounded Vulcan. T'pring, T'pou, T'kah.

Then there was the woman and her daughter. The Shadow-cloak clan had been reduced to one survivor and relegated to the Marvel multiverse. The Wraith were from a different Marvel universe. And neither of them could throw lightning or turn 2-D. Well other than the fact that in reality they were comic book characters. The only individual she knew of with those two characteristics belonged in the Outer Limits mini-verses.

The residents of this Naruto Universe did not appear to be only fictional characters. They seemed fully human, fully self-aware.

What did that make her? Was she still herself? Or had she been cut off, limited to being only a fictional character in somebody else's imagination?


End file.
